October and November catch-up

I have some left over pictures from October and November that I wanted to share with the grandparents and I guess anyone else who cares to see what the boys have been up to.

Fisher received his report card last week and it came back perfect.  Satisfactory in everything and positive notes from his teacher (and his music/art/p.e. teachers as well.)  It made us very happy to see that he is doing well.  Now if we could get him to behave that much at home and all would be well. :)

He has been learning a lot about the flag and different American symbols.    Here he is working on his flag project with paint, glitter and buttons.  Cooper eagerly assisted by painting his hands, the table, the floor and chair.

 They love art projects.  I am not to the point where I love art projects with Cooper.  Attempting them often leaves me with a big headache and mess to match.

 Paper and scissors are must-have items in our house.  

Cooper is really into scissors.  I am having some troubles channeling this fascination towards paper instead of carpet, clothing and Tucker's hair.

Fisher built a whole airport with planes, run ways and towers out of paper.

 For a few days Fisher was really into making "beavers" which is what you see in the picture above.  They could open their mouth and had legs.  Don't ask me where this idea came from.

 He made about a hundred of them of all sizes and then had them for sale in our front room for a couple days until I finally tired of the mess and sold them to the garbage can. 

 I look forward to seeing what pictures he has drawn on the back of his school assignments when he comes home everyday.

 Most of them time, the couch becomes the location of wrestle mania in our house.  I love when I catch moments when they are just being nice and calm with each other.

 Awww....

Tucker has boycotted his high chair in favor of being like his big brothers.  

We need another chair for our table.  I want to paint my table again, but then I remember how much work it took six years ago and I turn around and walk away only to think it again the next time I look at it.

 We had a little fence put in our back yard so Tucker and Cooper can play outside.  Cooper mostly runs Tucker over with his bike and scooter.

 Tucker looks for interesting things with his magnifying glass.

 Tucker is also into wearing shoes that are not his own and Cooper's bike helmet.  

 This is a very normal look for him.

 Daddy's hats are also fun to wear.

One day he was playing out back and kept bring me mulch offerings.  Once he started bringing it in the house, I had to ruin all the fun and close the door.

The boys have been driving me CRAZY lately.  They don't listen, the fight all the time and they are just plan downright BAD on some days.  One day I couldn't listen to them fight for another minute so we went for a drive and decided to cross the bridge we have overlooked in Yorktown so many times to go take a drive through Gloucester (pronounced Gloss-ter.)  We were stuck waiting to go over the bridge as the draw was open.  The boys did not like the waiting.   Then when I crossed I didn't realize I ended up in an EZpass lane by accident and people wouldn't let me over and, basically, I ran through a toll bridge so I am expecting something in the mail any day now.

 It was a really gray, ugly day that would have been beautiful if the sun had been shining.

 At least the trees were pretty.  

 I left 17 for a little while to drive along SR 614 which was a beautiful rural area full of churches and farms.

 The churches all had old cemeteries that were really cool.  Fisher wanted to go walk around but it was colder outside than what we were dressed for.

These are all drive-by pictures with no aim.

I loved all the different barns.  I have a thing for barns.

 I think that is enough pictures of barns for you. :)

We have spent the last week with allergies, sinuses and colds.  It has been so fun.  I am starting to get to know some people around the neighborhood and ward.  Lots of nice people.  

We can't wait for Thanksgiving!

I am in the market for a bigger Christmas tree this year.

I really need to get my hair done.

That is it for my ADD thoughts for the day.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone since I doubt I will be blogging before then.

Colonial Williamsburg: One hour in a lot of pictures

 So this weekend Williamsburg was free for military families although we learned that most of the stuff the kids would be interested in is free anyway.  We went to go check it out on Saturday.  Parking was packed and there were a lot of people there so we plan on going back another time that is not on a three day holiday weekend.

 We parked over closer to what I would dub as more of the college side of town.  I knew we were close to the ticket booth when I saw this bookstore that I recognized from when I took the boys on a drive to find out where Williamsburg was.

 I can't wait to check it out.  The boys loved the windows already decked out with Christmas themes.

 Lots of cute collector Christmas books.

 I wouldn't mind this one even though I probably already own all of them. :)

 While Todd acquired our tickets, the boys spun around and around on this pole while occasionally running into the poor innocent victim who was too busy looking up at the ticket price sign to notice what they were doing.  I was glad to be done with this area.

 Our little map to help us know where we were headed.

 Fisher had a lot of fun looking at the map and figuring out where we were.  Cooper had more fun running everywhere...into the street, in the dirt and into places where he wasn't supposed to go.

 They had so many cute little shops.  In a way, it was very similar to Nauvoo.  These are the Tailor's shop and shoemaker.

We went into the Weaver's shop.  They are really hard core about no liquids/food.  I even had to spit out my gum.  

 Todd was interested to see how to spin wool but Cooper and Fisher grew bored pretty quick.

 It was a beautiful day to be there.

 I loved seeing everyone dressed up.

 There were plenty of places to spend money.  This was the garden.  There were baskets, pottery, seeds/bulbs and other little trinkets for sale.

 About this time the boys were on a quest for food and not as interested in seeing anything.

 Tucker was making all kinds of observations.  He liked the church and noticed it was UP!

 He loved the doggies everywhere.

 All of the boys loved the horses pulling the carriage.

 I was surprised that Cooper felt comfortable enough to pet the horse.

 Normally he is a chicken once an animal gets too close.

 We went into a little store (also reminded me a lot of Nauvoo or Kirtland.)

 I had to chase Cooper from the other side of the rope.  Give the kid boundaries and he is sure to cross them.

 Out of all the hats in the store, the boys were most drawn to the feathers. :)

The other picture is toys for children.  I would have liked to spend money on some of these but remained strong.  We are currently working on getting rid of a lot of the kids' toys.

 Once again, a beautiful day.  Fisher was starting to feel frustrated that we weren't feeding him.  He could smell food and was so hungry.  We didn't realize how late it was.

 I so need one of these in my house.

The cutest little six-almost seven- year old and monster baby you'll ever see (says the biased mom.) 

 We started hearing some noise and soon came across this.

 Fisher's loved the guns at the very end.

( I do realize I could have sufficiently let you experience this with one picture but why limit myself to one when I can do FIVE? :)

 There were so many pretty trees about that I just keep throwing random tree pictures up. :)  This one won't be the last.

See?  I told you it wouldn't be the last tree picture.
Here are my random pictures of buildings.  I don't even know what most of them are since the boys were really hungry at this point in time and we didn't have a chance to check any of them out.

 Little cannon out front the boys thought was fun.

 Little market areas.  I like the little bonnets.

 Speaking of bonnets...

 Cool building.

 Now I am even starting to bore myself.  Sorry to those of you who have actually read to this point.

 At least, now you can get a feel for the place.

Fisher was starting to get really angry about this point in time that we weren't feeding him.  We went back to our car in one hour parking with the intention of finding another parking spot, but we ended up leaving with plans to return on Monday once we realized how late it was.

 Driving away I saw this shoe store they were working on inside.  I love the sign and for that reason alone will check out the store one of these days.

 A fun little fact: This is the location of the first hot air balloon flight in Virginia.  

Man, this post is just getting better and better, eh?

(And so starts all my drive-by pictures.)

 We drove by William & Mary.  It is the second oldest college in the country after Harvard and was started in the 1600's.   All I can say it that the campus is beautiful!  It it everything that a small town college should be.   I swear that it came right out of a movie or something.

One of the things I love about living where we do is all the old churches.  Majority seem to be baptist but there are quite a few Episcopal ones, as well.  

Driving away we saw this awesome hotel- the Williamsburg Inn.  It is a five star hotel built by a Rockefeller in 1937.  It was so cool.  The picture is so great since it is a drive by shot.

 More random buildings that I thought were cute.

 Or cool.

 And we can't forget my favorite drive by scenic pictures. :)

Such a beautiful town.

So exciting, right?  

Anyway, we definitely plan on returning and are especially excited to go during the Christmas season.

One of these weekends we will venture to Jamestown.  We still haven't seen Virginia Beach either.  

So many places to go.

What to do!